Thursday, April 3, 2008

My Trip to Malaysia: EARCOS Conference 2008

I recently had the privilege of attending a teachers' conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The conference was great and I learned a lot, but I especially enjoyed seeing Kuala Lumpur. The Petronas Towers and Batu Caves were two of my favorite sites.

At 88 storeys, the Petronas Towers are the world's tallest twin towers. They're connected by the world's highest, longest double-decker skybridge. Stately during the day, they gleam like a fairy tale palace at night. Pictures don't do them justice, but if you ever go to Kuala Lumpur, you'll see what I mean!

The Batu Caves are a series of large caverns that have been turned into a Hindu religious site. The gold-painted statue in front is 140 feet tall! After crossing the courtyard in the temple complex, you climb 272 steep steps to get to the main cave entrance. There are cute but annoying nearly-tame monkeys all around the steps begging and grabbing for food.

Inside the high caverns are a number of shrines, statues, carvings, etc. depicting various Hindu religious scenes.